


Family is Everything

by being_whovian



Series: What is Love? [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Family, Fluff (minimal amount at the end), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sunday's demise, felt really sad doing that to my own character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 14:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11083656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/being_whovian/pseuds/being_whovian
Summary: All that she knew was gone. When Fen's planet is destroyed by a fleet and her mother is no longer with her, she believes that love hurts too much to bear. Can the Doctor and Clara help convince her otherwise?





	Family is Everything

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for fic_promptly! I know that she is not named in this fic but I've decided she is going to be called Fen. 
> 
> Please note that this is a follow on from Can't Help Falling in Love! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who! It belongs to the BBC! I own my OC!

**_All that she knew was gone._ **

There in the rubble and toxic smoke stood a little girl, her long red hair tinged with soot and her pale skin blackened. Her big blue eyes were bloodshot, empty and full of unshed tears. She stood in a torn little summer dress and she was bare foot, a worn little teddy hanging from her trembling arms.

She stood near a body. A body of a broken woman, something someone so young should not have you see. They'd come and gone within seconds, a fleet so huge that the people of Sunday could do nothing but try and find cover.

The little girl sat down beside the body, placing her small scathed hand on the still warm skin of the woman's cheek. She sniffled, the tears slipping from her eyes and lining her blackened cheeks. She'd asked what love had felt like. What it looked like. But if this is what it felt like when it ended, she didn't want to love anyone again.

 _'Mam,'_ she choked, the toxic smoke filling up the air she breathed. _'What does it feel like to loose someone?'_ she struggled to breath for a moment, her heart shredding in her chest as she willed her mother to wake, hold her in her arms and tell her all about love. About family and about friendship. She wanted to hear her mother's voice, full of happiness and joy once more. Not full of fear and regret.

_'You're much too young to be dealing with something like this.'_

The little girl turned, red sooty hair swishing round her neck as she met a pair of old old eyes. The oldest eyes she remembered and a pair of sparkling brown ones, the ones that held a sadness she didn't quite understand. Her tears never stopped and her hand never left her broken mother's cheek.

Sunday was never a hostile planet. She couldn't understand why the fleet had come. They'd pillaged the markets, destroyed the crop fields and stollen away the livestock as well as murdering most of the planet's population. The woman with the brown eyes gathered the little girl up in her arms, smoothing her hair as she sobbed into her shoulder.

_'This is exactly how it should feel when you loose someone you love sweetie. You should feel wounded. Scared and alone. You will feel empty for a while, the Doctor and I know all to well. But in the end, there will be something or someone that'll make you feel whole again.'_

The little girl continued to sob, her chest tight and heavy with grief. Her mother made a promise. A promise that every mother makes to their baby; **_I shall protect you, love you and care for you until the planets very end._** but she couldn't fulfil that now. She was alone. Her planet was dead, with not enough life to regenerate its self back to its former glory.

_'If this is how it feels, why would I love someone that much again?'_

There was a moment of silence. Sunday continued to die, slowly below their feet, the gloriously built buildings crumbling around them. The fields of gold melted away into ash and the great trees frazzled in the aftermath. The little girl gripped tightly onto her teddy bear with one hand, her other holding onto the brown eyed woman's cotton jumper.

 _'How else would you know you're living, if you can't feel pain?'_ said the man from behind. She clutched tighter, a rather pained sound escaping her lips. The brown eyed woman hushed her, soothed her into a soft whimper, like a puppy who'd become frightened. _'You must continue to live. No matter how hard it becomes.'_

 _'But...'_ she stopped, raising her teary eyes to meet those old old eyes. She could see the care he held in this moment and the great sadness of something she may just understand. She swallowed, _'I'm scared.'_

She watched as he shuffled closer, reaching out his hand. She shuffled her teddy around, before reaching out her scathed hand. He took the little girls small hand between his own. His skin was incredibly warm against her own and she smiled slightly.

 _'Fear is good. Fear makes you fast. Fear, it's your greatest super power. Use it!'_ said the man, a gentle smile appearing on his face. She turned her face back into the woman's cotton jumper, a blush appearing under the blackness on her skin. The woman rubbed a hand on her back gently, laughing softly.

_'You could come with us... if you'd like sweetie?'_

The little girl's head shot up. They weren't going to leave her here? Her mouth opened and closed, no words coming to mind at the present moment. She was shocked that anyone would want to remove her from her dying land. _'She could come with us couldn't she Doctor?'_

The little girl watched as the woman smiled at her companion. The man; who she now knows is named **_the Doctor_** seemed to contemplate the proposal. The little girl willed herself not to get to hopeful that he would save her life, help her understand that it's okay to hurt. She clung to her teddy bear and the cotton jumper. It felt like rocks were dropping into the pit of her stomach as she waited with baited breath.

**_She didn't want to be alone. It was all to painful to bear._ **

_'I don't see why not.'_ he finally said, a small smile appearing once more. The little girl worked her way out of the woman's grasp, limping her way over to where the Doctor had crouched down. The heaviness in her chest lifted just a little bit, yet the grief swam through her veins like a disease. She tried her best not to cry when she wrapped her tiny arms around his waist, her head resting against his stomach.

She gripped hold of his jacket, her hands shaking as she balled the material in her tiny fists. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut and her heart began to knit its self back together when he hugged her tightly.

The Doctor realised that the little girls body had relaxed against him. He glanced at his companion with a rather embarrassed smile. _'She's fallen asleep.'_

 _'Perhaps we should take her back to the TARDIS?'_ she said with a smile of her own. She rose from the dirty ground, brushing off her clothes before picking up the little girls little teddy bear, which she'd dropped in her haste to get to the Doctor.

The Doctor scooped the little girl into his arms. He tapped her gently on the chin to wake her up. Her bloodshot blue eyes open briefly. _'Would you like to say anything to your mum before we go?'_

The little girl turned her head, glancing down at the lonely body of her mother. The Doctor held her tightly, his hearts breaking in his chest for her.

 _'I'll miss you mam. But I'll be safe now. I won't be alone like I know you feared. I love you.'_ the little girl said softly, turning her head quickly into the Doctor's shoulder, a new bout of tears tearing through her as she sobbed freely. The Doctor pressed a kiss to her head, holding her as close as he could, bouncing her gently.

_'You'll be great for her. You're the perfect example of what fear can do. It can make you brave. It can make you kind. She needs that.'_

_'I can't do this on my own Clara.'_

_'You won't have to.'_ Clara whispered as she took the Doctor's free hand in her own, tightly. She wouldn't let the two of them do this alone. She would never replace the little girl's mother, but she could sure as hell try and do what she could for her, **_because family is everything._**


End file.
